Phobias?

[casmeow]

One of our Labs, Belle Ann, has wonderful hearing & can hear thunder before we can.I know that's not unusual, but what I don't understand is her fright of many things - mostly thunder, but also "mouth noises" like blowing on her belly or just silly noises people make.She also seems to be afraid of most people she hasn't seen before, thus acting aggressively at first. We got her at the SPCA when she was only 5-6 wks old and have treated her like royalty - plus she thought from day 1 that our 3 yr old lab was her Mom so was secure w/that.When she gets scared she runs to us & we comfort her. Could it be some kind of heredity? We feel so bad for her. She also has an eating disorder - she gets plenty to eat but is ALWAYS searching for more.Tonight when we went out for 2 hrs, she ate a whole loaf of bread.ANYTHING she'll eat - even paper napkins that had food on them.It almost seems like hereditary craziness. I would like some ideas of how to work w/her - she's 7 yrs old I I don't think she'll change.Please help. Thanks.

[Karen]

It does sound like hereditary neuroses - you Lab sounds similar to a Sheltie I know, both in her fear of noises and in her endless eating. I do not know anything you can do about the eating, other than getting tall trash cans with lids so she cannot get to stuff she shouldn't eat, and being careful about where you put food - the staff at the office with the Sheltie has learned that the humans have to be responsible, because the dog just won't be!
As for her fear of noises, I think just reassuring her that she is safe, and loved, is all you can do. As a child my family had a very smart dog who was so scared during storms that she would "sneak" into someone's bed for comfort. She wasn't afraid of anything else, was the lead dog in the neighborhood "pack" and guard of the family children against anything, but thunderstorms reduced the poor baby to quivers! So we just snuck her into bed for the storm, and sympathized!
Anybody have any ideas for Belle?